Conflict Management and Leadership for Managers: Knowledge, Skills, and Processes to Harness the Power of Rapid Change

by Susan S. Raines

Overview

All managers are conflict managers, and Conflict Management and Leadership for Managers, Third Edition coaches current and future organizational leaders with the knowledge and skills necessary to prevent and manage every common source of conflict faced at work. This text is divided into three sections: conflict management and collaboration basics, strategies for preventing conflicts inside your work teams and organizations, and processes and skills for enhancing relationships with external stakeholders. This comprehensive, all-in-one resource offers skill-based exercises, self-assessments for role understanding and goal-setting, and a variety of learner-friendly tools. Informed by decades of experience working with organizations of all types, sizes, missions, and cultures, Susan S. Raines demonstrates how effective and creative managers positively address conflict to enhance collaboration and mission achievement, thrive in rapidly changing environments, and craft a positive brand image for both one’s organization and their own career.

Updates to the Third Edition:
Greatly expanded coverage of DEI-related conflict management woven into all sections for greater racial, ethnic, gender and sexuality, cultural, and religious sensitivity and situational specificity coverage.Greater coverage of the roles of social media and technology in increasing and decreasing conflict and suggested technological strategies to utilize and/or mitigate increasingly modernizing work communication methods and advancement challenges.More coverage of distributed hybrid workplace issues around team cohesion, employee motivation, and connectedness relevant to industry-wide environmental changes initiated by the COVID-19 pandemic.Increased coverage of informal conflict and dispute resolution that are more common and nuanced, providing more granular application of skills and strategies.Improved art program for visual learners.Updated relevant court rulings and federal policies to stay in step with current legal best-practice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538177976
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	09/18/2023
Edition description:	Third Edition
Pages:	528
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.99(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Susan S. Raines, PhD,is a diplomat for the U.S. Department of State. She served as a Professor and Associate Director in the graduate program in International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding at Kennesaw State University for more than two decades providing consultation and services to corporate and governmental leaders focused on leadership coaching, strategic decision-making, culture change initiatives, training, team norm-building, change management, crisis negotiation, and scandal prevention and response. She has mediated more than 18,000 cases inside and outside of court systems, trained mediators worldwide, and coached executive leadership teams for Fortune 500 and international organizations. In addition to this text, she had authored more than 55 peer reviewed articles, served as the Editor-in-Chief for Conflict Resolution Quarterly for twelve years, and co-authored Expert Mediators (with Jean Poitras). She has three wonderful adult children who served as a lab for her work, sometimes willingly.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables
Introduction to the Third Edition
Section I. Basic Conflict Management Knowledge and Skills
1 Manager Know Thyself: The Skills and Behaviors of Great Conflict Managers
2 Theory to Practice: The Root Causes and Cures of Conflict
3 The Power of Negotiation: Essential Concepts and Skills
4 The Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Continuum
5 Managing across Cultures and Generations: Deeper Understanding Brings Maximal Performance
Section II. The Prevention and Resolution of Internal Organizational Conflicts
6 Building Healthy Organizational Cultures: The Foundation of Success
7 Interpersonal Dispute Resolution at Work: Processes to Maximize Engagement, Decrease Attrition, and Increase Team Harmony
8 Leadership Amidst Chaotic Change: New Tools for a Transformed World
9 Dispute Systems Design for Organizational Justice & Proaction
10 The Ombudsman & Manager as Change Agents: Tools for Transformation
Section III. The Prevention and Resolution of External Organizational Conflicts
11 Principles and Systems for Superior Customer Service and Customer Recapture
12 Public Policy Decision Making and Collaboration with Regulators
13 Improving Meetings and Large Group Decision-Making Processes
Glossary of Key Terms
References
Index
About the Author

Editorial Reviews

Conflict Management and Leadership for Managers reviews central issues in preparing for and addressing myriad types of conflict that occur in organizational settings. The book covers micro, interpersonal conflicts that occur among supervisors and employees, such as giving performance feedback, as well as group-level interactions and macro-level considerations such as designing systems for organizational conflict management that protect employees and organizations from harm and promote organizational justice.” —Jessica Jameson, North Carolina State University

“After reviewing the proposal for the book during the Summer 2022, I adopted the Second Edition of the book for a course on conflict resolution that I taught Spring 2023. I had used a different textbook in previous sections of the course, but the Raines text was more conducive for teaching conflict resolution in organizational contexts. The book was well received by the students in the class and I intend to adopt the third edition for the course in 2024.
This textbook presents basic concepts and skills necessary to prevent and proactively resolve common workplace conflicts. It's appropriate for use in an undergraduate course on conflict resolution, and would also be a great resource for future organizational leaders. There are skill-building exercises on difficult conversations, conducting performance reviews, and negotiating with employees and other managers while navigating through difficult times.” —Jody A. Worley, University of Oklahoma

“This book is a great teaching and training resource for individuals seeking to understand and improve their conflict management skills, particularly within professional organizations. Whether you are seeking insight into your organizational conflict culture or practical conflict management approaches, this book has it all. There are excellent workplace examples and thought-provoking discussion questions throughout, which I love to use as conversation starters in my own classroom. Even if you are not using it for educational purposes, having a copy on your shelf would be beneficial for anyone working in a position that involves assisting others working through conflict.” —Erica Knotts, Southern Oregon University

“This book offers information that will stand any manager in good stead. First, it gives managers the language to talk about conflict and the grounding to identify conflict when it happens. Knowing conflict is there and knowing how to talk about it are the first important steps toward resolving or managing conflict. Second, and perhaps most importantly, the discussion questions and exercises at the end of each chapter offer an opportunity to reflect on conflict management strategies in a risk-free environment.” —Daniel Rainey, principal, Holistic Solutions, Inc.; fellow, National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution; and editor-in-chief, International Journal of Online Dispute Resolution

“This third edition is one of the best innovations for the field of conflict management and even fields beyond. Raines offers an expanded exploration of conflict management for managers across practical settings, making it an instructive read for managers interested in learning how to best help others manage conflict, especially after the pandemic and those experiencing cultural and generational differences. Furthermore, this text can be useful for both advanced mediators and those just starting out.” —Brittany Foutz, Salisbury University; senior research fellow, Bosserman Center for Conflict Resolution; and United Nations Co-Secretariat, RCE Salisbury

From the Publisher

After reviewing the proposal for the book during the Summer 2022, I adopted the Second Edition of the book for a course on conflict resolution that I taught Spring 2023. I had used a different textbook in previous sections of the course, but the Raines text was more conducive for teaching conflict resolution in organizational contexts. The book was well received by the students in the class and I intend to adopt the third edition for the course in 2024.

This textbook presents basic concepts and skills necessary to prevent and proactively resolve common workplace conflicts. It's appropriate for use in an undergraduate course on conflict resolution, and would also be a great resource for future organizational leaders. There are skill-building exercises on difficult conversations, conducting performance reviews, and negotiating with employees and other managers while navigating through difficult times.

Jody A. Worley

Conflict Management and Leadership for Managers reviews central issues in preparing for and addressing myriad types of conflict that occur in organizational settings. The book covers micro, interpersonal conflicts that occur among supervisors and employees, such as giving performance feedback, as well as group-level interactions and macro-level considerations such as designing systems for organizational conflict management that protect employees and organizations from harm and promote organizational justice.

Jessica Jameson

This book offers information that will stand any manager in good stead. First, it gives managers the language to talk about conflict and the grounding to identify conflict when it happens. Knowing conflict is there and knowing how to talk about it are the first important steps toward resolving or managing conflict. Second, and perhaps most importantly, the discussion questions and exercises at the end of each chapter offer an opportunity to reflect on conflict management strategies in a risk-free environment.

Daniel Rainey

This third edition is one of the best innovations for the field of conflict management and even fields beyond. Raines offers an expanded exploration of conflict management for managers across practical settings, making it an instructive read for managers interested in learning how to best help others manage conflict, especially after the pandemic and those experiencing cultural and generational differences. Furthermore, this text can be useful for both advanced mediators and those just starting out.

Brittany Foutz

This book is a great teaching and training resource for individuals seeking to understand and improve their conflict management skills, particularly within professional organizations. Whether you are seeking insight into your organizational conflict culture or practical conflict management approaches, this book has it all. There are excellent workplace examples and thought-provoking discussion questions throughout, which I love to use as conversation starters in my own classroom. Even if you are not using it for educational purposes, having a copy on your shelf would be beneficial for anyone working in a position that involves assisting others working through conflict.

Erica Knotts